


Wildcards

by octovoid128



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, and they don't trust raph and marius, back on my bedsharing bullshit, basically the rest of the mechs are generally paranoid bastards, non graphic torture, so they have to band together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23333329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octovoid128/pseuds/octovoid128
Summary: It was only natural they were drawn to each other. They were the two newest, the anomalies, the two who had never experienced Carmilla and her gruesome experiments. The two who were least trusted.
Relationships: Raphaella la Cognizi & Marius von Raum, Raphaella la Cognizi/Marius von Raum
Comments: 25
Kudos: 46





	1. Strange Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> catch me making things for my extremely specific interests which is right now for some reason raph/marius. this first chapter has nothing that could be construed as romantic but that will probably change so fair warning if it's not your cup of tea

It was only natural they were drawn to each other. They were the two newest, the anomalies, the two who had never experienced Carmilla and her gruesome experiments. The two who were least trusted. 

The rest of the crew had been wary of them both the moment they appeared, metal already grafted into flesh and bone, deeper below the surface than you’d expect. They avoided them as best they could, and not knowing who Carmilla was did not make them any more trustworthy. Maybe that was just as well. 

Marius had always been a liar so he wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t believed, even as Jonny beat him senseless about the head or poured an endless stream of water into his face trying to get him to confess any connection he might have to the good Doctor. Marius didn’t know any doctors other than himself, so he had no idea who the feral first mate was talking about. He just endured the torture, no matter how many times it killed him. He wouldn’t lie about this. He knew they still didn’t trust him by the time Raphaella decided to take her fate into her own hands.

Raphaella was even less surprised about her reception. Her mechanization was less of a mystery than Marius’s. She’d done it to herself. Doctor Carmilla had left good notes, detailed notes, and she had managed to make something beautiful with their help. But of course, showing a proclivity for mad science and an ability to mechanize someone was not something that really bolstered their trust in her. They interrogated her also, put her through the same paces as they had Marius, Jonny breaking her fingers one by one, waiting for them to reform and then doing it all over again, or putting out his cigarettes on her skin. 

But though she screamed, she did not break.

And in the lull between agony, as her body knitted itself back together, Marius would kneel beside her, offer her a glass of water, cool her brow with a wet rag.

The first time he did it, she spat at him. Would have kicked him if her ankles weren’t bound to the chair she was sat upon. He just wiped the spit from his cheek and offered her the glass again.

“I don’t need your pity unless you’re going to  _ get me out of here _ .”

“It’s not pity.” His reply was earnest. “It’s what I wish someone would have done for me when I was in your shoes.”

“Well  _ I _ wish you would get me the fuck out of here!” She spat at him again.

“And then what are you going to do? They’re not going to let you stay if they don’t trust you. You just going to throw yourself out the airlock and see where the great currents of space take you?”

“Maybe! Now that I’m immortal I can do whatever the hell I want!”

Marius clicked his tongue and stood up. “Such hubris, miss… la Cognizi, was it? You really believe immortality is unconditional? You obviously didn’t have to die to get it.”

Raphaella tried to lunge at him, but only succeeded in toppling her chair to the ground. He hauled her back up by the backrest of the chair and set her right side up. She glared at him petulantly until he finally heaved a sigh and left.

Jonny came back a few hours later to take up the torture again. And Marius followed once the torture died down. He didn’t speak, just offered her water and a little bit of food this time. She was too exhausted to spit at him so she just let him feed her.

“Are you really not going to let me out? Didn’t you say you also went through this?”

“I did. And can I just say, you’re getting off lucky. Asshole waterboarded me. At least what he’s doing to you hasn’t been actually lethal yet.”

“I think I’d prefer that actually. Since I can’t actually die.”

Marius rolled his eyes. “Anyway, no I’m not going to release you. Otherwise I’m probably taking your place in the hot seat. They only just started to trust me and you showing up out of nowhere and successfully teaching yourself how to mechanize someone by experimenting on  _ your own body _ is not actually helping my own case.”

“Why? It’s not like we know each other.”

“They don’t know that for sure. They’re all so steeped in paranoia they’d probably turn on each other if they hadn’t known each other for millennia.” 

“That’s stupid.”

“Maybe, but these fuckers have enough trauma built up to last until the heat death of the universe. And you have willingly entered yourself in among our ranks. So it’s either endure or get the fuck out on your own. You’re a smart lady. I bet you can figure it out.”

“Don’t be fucking condescending.”

“I’m not.” Marius’s look was once again earnest. “I truly believe you’re extremely intelligent, if not exactly  _ wise _ . I just don’t think I can help you, Miss Cognizi. So you have to do what you’ve already done and help yourself.”

She wasn’t sure what made her stay. Something about the lab deep in the Aurora’s insides was like a siren song to her. She couldn’t bring herself to leave it unexplored. So she endured the torture, endured the strange encounters with Marius afterwards (which were sometimes basically torture in and of themselves, the man barely knew how to shut up most days.) She would do anything to go back there, to learn more of Carmilla’s secrets.

It’s usually not her style to take the path of least resistance, but in this case perhaps it was necessary. Swallow her pride, submit to the agony, not let slip her interest in Carmilla’s work. She’d never met the woman personally but her work was so  _ fascinating _ Raphaella couldn’t help herself. So instead she bided her time until the strange metal man who introduced himself as Brian gently undid her bindings.

She was free.

“You’re welcome to stay if you want. Though I can understand if you want to leave, given how we treated you. I’m terribly sorry about that, by the way. If I had known-”

Raphaella rolled her eyes. “As if you would have actually done anything. Your other friend has been right useless.”

Brian looked puzzled and a little bit hurt. “Other friend?”

“The one with the hand and the big mouth?”

“Oh, Marius.”

“Right, that guy.”

“He was supposed to be feeding you…”

“Oh, he did. He just didn’t help me escape.”

“Well, that’s about all you can expect from Marius. He’s, frankly, not very smart.” Brian gave a little grimace and a shrug like that was supposed to make her feel any better.

“That wasn’t my impression of him. Cowardly I think might be a better word.”

“Cowardly works, I guess. Though you could perhaps see it as loyalty if you look at it from our perspective.”

“Loyal to people who also tortured him?”

Brian didn’t fully meet her stare.

“We let him go eventually. We just had to be sure we could trust him. If you had been through what we had, you’d understand.  _ He _ understands. Waking up after death is not something any of us celebrated. Not that we necessarily  _ wanted _ to die, mind you, but a lot of us had the time to make peace with it as we breathed our last. And then pile that on top of waking up with a drastic and terrifying modification to your body that you didn’t agree to…” Brian paused to gesture to his entire self to emphasize his point, “it’s traumatic. And we’re the only other 6 people in the world Marius can relate to. So he sticks with us.”

Raphaella pressed her lips together. She hadn’t thought of it like that. Sure she was all about unethical science but even she understood that there should be limits. 

“I suppose that makes sense. Are you still willing to have me, even if I don’t share your exact experience?”

Brian shrugged, “You wouldn’t be the only misfit here if you did. The Toy Soldier is an entirely different story altogether. And you’re physiologically closer to any of us than you are to any human alive probably. We’re not going to just turn you out. I’d be wary around Jonny for a while though. He’s got… trust issues. I’m still pretty sure he’s convinced Marius is a spy for Carmilla or something.”

“Is this a new way to get me to admit that  _ I’m _ a spy for Carmilla? Because I’m not. I’ve never met her. I’m only interested in science. I’m not here for any other reason. In fact, if I’m free to go, I’d like to go back to the lab and do more research.”

Brian gave her a half smile. “You’re free to do what you want, but I’d recommend you take a bit of time to recover. Might want to go see Marius in the med bay. He’s not…  _ actually _ a doctor but he should be able to give you a good enough once over. You’re immortal now so it’s not that important to have a competent doctor.”

“Your vote of confidence in him does not make me feel very reassured vis-a-vis his usefulness to me.”

“He’s a good conversation, at least. He’s funny.”

“You’re telling me that I should see the ship’s doctor… not because he is actually useful as a doctor…. But because he’s… funny?”

“I mean. He’s also the most likely to actually talk to you. The others are still kind of wary, obviously… I don’t doubt your intention is to hole yourself up in that lab but it’s not good to isolate yourself completely, and I think he’s lonely too. Especially since everyone’s walls have gone up again since you came around.”

“Why are they blaming him for what I’ve done? I’m a grown woman, I know what I’m doing.” Raphaella bristled a little at the idea.

“Because he’s still a complete mystery to us. We don’t really know that much about him aside from the fact that he’s definitely not actually a doctor and also definitely not actually a baron and that his name isn’t actually Marius.”

“Well, that’s a lot of things you seem to know about him right there. Also, he’s funny! Put that on the list.”

Brian just gave her a look. She sighed.

“Look, I’ll check in with him if you want but I don’t think it’s going to do me much good.”

“Thank you. I think it will do you more good than you might think.”


	2. Second Degree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphaella takes Brian's advice. At least she might have a use for Marius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the sex degree i couldn't resist because the words "Marius insists he's a sexpert" have been running through my mind for like a week now and it makes me lose my shit every time i think about it.

Marius was apparently not expecting her visit by the way he scrambled to his feet and attempted to subtly make himself look more presentable, smoothing his jacket and running a hand through his short curls. 

“Miss Cognizi, I didn’t expect you to come see me!” He grinned and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“I could tell. You know you don’t have to keep calling me Miss Cognizi, right? Raphaella is fine.”

“Raphaella it is, then. And you may call me Marius, no titles required.”

“Oh don’t worry I was planning to whether you gave me permission to or not.” 

Marius gave her a look that strangely resembled a sad puppy and Raphaella couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You’re  _ mean _ .”

“That’s me, Raphaella la Cognizi, as cruel and brutal as I am science.”

“I think one of those descriptors is generally supposed to be ‘beautiful’.” His lopsided grin returned as he said that.

Raphaella shrugged. “I don’t put much stock in beauty. We can’t all make a living off a pretty face and a lie about being a doctor alone.”

Marius grinned wider at that. “I suppose someone else told you that? How’d you finally get out anyways?”

“Brian. The metal one. I’m a free woman and I intend to make full use of that. I’m going back into that lab.”

Marius huffed out half a laugh and shook his head. “You’re insane. That place is a right death trap, I don’t even understand how you made it out the first time.”

In a flash, the tips of her metal feathers were curved towards his throat, not quite touching his skin, but close enough that she could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed in what she could only assume was fear.

“I think you’d do well not to underestimate me, Marius.”

He tilted his head away from the sharp feathers and held up his hands in surrender.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Raphaella.”

She grinned and pulled her wing back behind her before reaching up and giving him a fond pat on the cheek.

“Brian was right. I do feel better now. You  _ are _ funny.”

“I will take that as a compliment.” Marius grinned again. Raphaella was beginning to think he didn’t have any other facial expressions.

“Whatever floats your boat.” She paused for a second, looking him up and down. He shifted, maybe nervously, under her gaze.

“Are you… I mean, you’re welcome to stay, if you want, but is there a reason you’re looking at me like a slab of meat?”

“Would you like to be my lab assistant? I’m looking to further my knowledge of the Mechanisms and their particular brand of immortality.”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Many reasons. First and foremost, you’re apparently the only one who will talk to me. Secondly, from what I could see of the notes at my disposal while mechanizing myself,  _ you _ weren’t in there. I’m assuming that means you weren’t mechanized here. I’d like to see if that makes any sort of difference between you and the other Mechanisms, and also if there are any large differences between myself and you, and if yes, are those differences greater or different than the rest of them-”

“Okay, I get it, you don’t have to explain all of the experiments you intend to do because there is no way I’m going to remember all those at once.”

“No wonder you never got a degree.” Raphaella rolled her eyes.

“I have a degree! I have two, actually! Neither of them are  _ legitimate _ , but I have degrees!” Marius made a frantic gesture at the wall of the sickbay, where two framed certificates hung on the wall. One was a medical degree from Space Harvard declaring Baron Marius von Raum a Definitely Legitimate Doctor of Medicine and Psychology. The other was labeled as a degree in sexual intercourse, but was really more of a report card, featuring a D in self-discipline but an A+ in oral.

“D in self-discipline?” Raphaella raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you know what they say, Ds get degrees. At least this D did.” He winked and she rolled her eyes in response.

“There is absolutely no way that is legitimate.”

“I mean, they don’t usually put report cards directly on degrees so yeah, what was your first clue?”

“The A+ in oral.”

“You don’t believe I could have that much skill in oral? I’m  _ insulted _ ! I actually had to prove my skill to get Ashes to forge me that one!”

If Raphaella rolled her eyes one more time she was sure they would roll all the way out of her head.

“I’ve changed my mind and have decided that I don’t want to know. Now let’s go.” She grabbed Marius by his metal arm and tugged him out of the medbay, in the direction of the lab.

“Hey, I never actually agreed to being a lab rat!”

“What do you have anything better to do? Aren’t the rest of them avoiding you? Or was Brian mistaken? He told me you were lonely.”

Marius scowled. “What does Brian know about how I’m feeling?”

“He’s not wrong, though, is he?” Raphaella tilted her head to the side.

Marius doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t deny it. He just sighs and lets Raphaella drag him the rest of the way to the lab. 


	3. Archive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius is nothing if not a gentleman. Raphaella meets Ivy.

Marius fell asleep around the 50th test. He wasn’t fully asleep, just beginning to nod off, but Raphaella figured that that was enough for one day, especially after doing a fair amount of fighting off the horrors of the Doc’s lab. She had been so caught up in the rush of the experiments that she’d managed to ignore her own exhaustion, but now as she watched Marius’s chin dip against his chest, she could feel it burning in her bones. 

She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a little shake. He gave a little start in surprise and shook his head a little as though trying to clear his mind.

“Sorry, was I falling asleep?” He closed his eyes and scrunched his nose a little and damn, Raphaella must have been tired because damn if it wasn’t just the tiniest bit cute.

“You were. It’s fine, though, I think that’s plenty for tonight. I’m tired too.” The admission slipped out before she could bite it back.

“Oh god, you don’t even have a room yet, do you?”

For all her smarts in science, that thought hadn’t occurred to her before that moment.

“Fuck,” She mumbled tiredly, “You’re right.”

“Hey, no problem, we’ll cross that bridge later, you can have my room for tonight.” Marius clambered to his feet. Raphaella snorted.

“Bit early to be trying to get me into your bed, isn’t it?”

Marius looked offended. “Hey, I’ve got more class than that. Plenty of other beds to sleep on in the medbay.”

“Fine.” She let Marius lead her to his room. She was practically half-asleep by the time he tucked her in and bid her goodnight.

When she awoke, it took her a second to remember where she was. Marius’s sheets weren’t the most comfortable, just a little too far on the scratchy side for her tastes. His mattress was comfortable enough, though, so she let herself languish a little. It would do her good to sleep in a little. 

She didn’t get much of a chance to do that, though, as there was a knock at the door. She sighed and poured herself out of the bed to answer.

The woman on the other side of the door looked taken aback to see Raphaella. Which… made sense, given that this was someone else’s room.

“You’re not Marius.”

“Astute observation.”

“Is Marius in there?”

“No he isn’t.”

The woman looks annoyed. “Okay, well, do you know where he is?”

“Try the medbay. That’s where he said he’d be last night.” Raphaella shrugged. “I don’t believe we’ve met, would you care to introduce yourself?”

The woman doesn’t look particularly happy to be asked that.

“Ivy Alexandria. Ship’s archivist. There was a 94% of you dying in that lab before you managed to mechanize yourself.”

“Oh, a fun fact! Love that.” Raphaella figured Ivy was trying to intimidate her by telling her those odds, but really it made her rather proud of herself. Those were some pretty impressive odds for her to have survived. 

“I don’t suppose you want to introduce yourself back?” Ivy didn’t really seem too invested in knowing her identity, but it was nice of her to ask.

“I sort of assumed my reputation has preceded me.”

“That’s vain.”

“Perhaps, but it’s true. You don’t get many newcomers here, do you?”

“We get plenty of newcomers. It’s just that nine times out of ten, they’re part of the weird eldritch hivemind that inhabits the bowels of the ship.”

“Fair enough. I am Raphaella la Cognizi. I suppose I don’t have an actual role on the ship, though I would very much like to stay. You already have a doctor, so I suppose I won’t be of too much use there. Not that he’s much use there either but it seems to be working out for you. I’ve never been one for healing anyways. Do you guys have a cook already?”

“That would also be Marius. And Brian. They’re a team.”

“How about chaplain?”

Ivy snorted. “As if any of us believe in god.”

“If Marius gets to pretend to be a doctor  _ and _ a sexpert, I think I should be allowed to run a fake church that I’m not qualified to run.”

Ivy actually laughed out loud at that, which Raphaella considered a win. “Marius is only the doctor because he’s even more useless anywhere else. You, on the other hand, actually have more skill than just running your mouth.”

“And why does he get to be a sexpert?”

Ivy raised an eyebrow and gave her a cheeky grin. “How do you know he’s not? I’m not saying that all that talking he does equates to him being excellent at oral, except that’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m sure there are all manners of fun experiments you could do to determine the validity of that statement.”

Raph wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“None of you trust him but you’ve all fucked him?”

Ivy shrugs, “Not all of us. Yet. Anyways, I’m off to the medbay. You’re welcome to join me if you want.”

Raphaella didn’t have anything better to do, so she followed along. She wasn’t getting much better at navigating the twisting halls of the Aurora, so it was nice of Ivy to offer.

Marius was still in bed, curled on one of the uncomfortable-looking medbay cots beneath a sad square of blanket that barely covered most of him even in his balled up state. It was actually kind of pitiful.

She would have almost felt bad for him since it was her fault he’d had to sleep like that but she didn’t really get the chance to. Ivy had scrounged up a strange goopy little monster from the corner and plopped it unceremoniously onto Marius’s face. The wet slap of its tentacles across his face as it suctioned onto him was more than adequate to startle him awake and he toppled off the cot and onto the floor. 

When he came back up with the creature in his hands, there were red welts across his face from where it had latched onto him.

“You could have just… shaken my shoulder, Ivy. Here take this back, these little fuckers are going to be the death of me.”

“That is highly unlikely. Anyways, since you’re not busy, I’m commandeering you to help me in the Archive for a little while.”

Marius groaned. “Why me?”

“Because you, unfortunately, are the most helpful out of all the crew and also you’re tall enough to reach the higher shelves for me. Plus you’re oh-so strong and  _ handsome _ , can’t you do a little heavy lifting for me, big guy?” Ivy lowered her voice a step into something a little more flirtatious and Raphaella didn’t like the feeling it produced in her chest when Marius’s cheeks colored a little.

“ _ Fine _ .” Marius huffed.

“Wait a minute!” Raphaella interjected. “I was hoping you’d join me in the lab again.”

Ivy shot her an annoyed look which Raphaella met with an even stare.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had two women fight over my attention in my life. Pretty sure this only happens in the dreams of teenage boys.” Marius laughed, but it turned slightly nervous when Raphaella and Ivy both gave him sharp looks. “Look, the one thing we all have plenty of is  _ time _ . Raphaella, how about we  _ both _ go help Ivy for a little while. It’ll go a lot faster with three pairs of hands helping out. Plus, I think you’d like the archive. Ivy has all sorts of fun scientific texts in there! Surely she’d let you borrow a few as long as you kept them in good condition. How about it, Ives?”

Ivy rolled her eyes. “Fine. You can come. Maybe those wings actually work and you can actually reach the shelves even Marius can’t! Though if I had to guess, there’s only about a 32% chance that they actually function like actual wings. You’d have to have done some incredible work to adjust the musculature of your back and possibly even the structure and density of your bones for those to actually operate properly.”

Raphaella scowled. “I knew what I was doing when I created these. Besides, you’re assuming that I didn’t have wings previously and didn’t already have those structures built into my body.”

Marius looked at her with wide eyes. “ _ Did _ you have wings before??”

“Well, that’s just a fun little secret for me to know and for you to find out, if you’re brave enough.” She gave him a wink, just to see if she could make him flush the same way Ivy had.

As it turned out, she could.

The Archive really was a marvel. Ivy was obviously proud of it, and she was right to be. The shelves marched into the bowels of the ship beyond Raphaella’s view. There must be all sorts of useful knowledge to be found. She would have to spend much more time here if she was given the chance.

Ivy immediately got to work delegating them tasks, starting Marius on lifting large stacks of books and shoving a few scrolls into Raphaella’s arms and briefly explaining the system she used to organize the whole place. 

“These go in SIG-543, so they go over here…” She pointed out the first few sections until Raphaella got the hang of it and was able to start placing things herself.

It was nice to be able to wander a little, even if she was working at the same time. Ivy had accrued quite the collection.

She let herself get lost in the stacks a little as she fell into the rhythm of the work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is this going to turn into raph/ivy/marius???? who knows I don't plan these things! Am I going to do the bedsharing trope in a fic AGAIN? perhaps! and you can't stop me because this fic is already so self-indulgent!


	4. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mechanisms have dinner all together for the first time with Raphaella. It doesn't go well. Finding a place to sleep, however, goes better than expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back on my bedsharing bullshit folks

It wasn’t until evening when she remembered that she still didn’t have her own room. 

Marius was at this point looking particularly stiff, after what she could only assume was a restless night’s sleep and nearly a full day of carrying heavy crates of artifacts for Ivy. She’d almost feel bad if she made him sleep in the medbay again. 

“Who would I talk to about acquiring my own room?” She asked him as they headed towards the mess hall.

“That would be Ashes O’ Reilly, our quartermaster. They’ll probably be in the mess as well. We try to have dinner together. Something about  _ bonding _ as a  _ crew _ or something. Brian likes to pretend we don’t all hate each other.”

Raphaella snorted. “You definitely don’t hate all of them. I saw you blush when Ivy flirted with you.”

Marius scoffed, and if she didn’t know any better she’d say he almost sounded bitter. “That wasn’t actual flirting, that was her calculating the odds of me doing her a favor and deciding that appealing to my need for validation and compliments was the best route to get me to do her a favor. And she even got an extra assistant out of the gamble so I’d say it worked very well.”

“Are all of you conniving assholes?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Don’t let Brian’s kind demeanor fool you, he’s just as fucked up as the rest of us. Ashes is a master of manipulation, they know how to play people against each other with just a few words. Jonny is just a dick. You’d think Tim getting his eyes burned out would make him worse at the puppy dog eyes but somehow he is a master at them. Nastya was literally a princess and despite it being like thousands of millions of years since she has been space royalty she has not forgotten it and will pout at you until she gets what she wants. Plus she’s dating the spaceship so that just adds extra pressure because Aurora can and will make sure you get zero sleep until you give in to Nastya’s demands. The Toy Soldier is… actually, the Toy Soldier is the only one of these motherfuckers I respect half the time. Really excellent at Rock Paper Scissors. Generally pleasant. Happy to be involved.”

“Alright. So I have to ask Ashes for a room?”  
“Yep. Good luck with that. Frankly, they scare me so you’re on your own with that, dove.”

Raphaella looked at him incredulously. “‘Dove’?”

Marius’s cheeks reddened a little and he looked away quickly. “Sorry. Um. Just. Y’know, with the... wings. It’s a… type of bird. You’re. A scientist so I’m sure you… know that, huh? I’ll um… I’ll just stick to Raphaella, shall I?”

Raphaella laughed a little. “For now. Wouldn’t want you to get too far ahead of yourself,  _ doctor _ .”

Marius laughed too, though his was significantly more awkward.

More awkward than that, however, was dinner. Everyone was staring at her with varying degrees of distrust and suspicion and Raphaella did not care for that shit at all. 

“Hello.” She wiggled her fingers at them in what she hoped was a nonthreatening gesture. “Good to see you again, Ivy. And you, Brian. A pleasure as always, Jonny.” If that last one was a little sarcastic, she could hardly be blamed. Jonny  _ had _ broken her fingers an awful lot. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the rest of you yet. I believe introductions are in order?”

There was a long moment of silence and Raphaella was worried she would really have to fill it all on her own. Then the strange automaton at the end of the table spoke up with a wooden smile.

“Hullo! I’m The Toy Soldier! Nice To Meet You!”

Marius was right to respect this upstanding wooden gentleman, Raphaella decided.

“Pleased to meet you, Toy Soldier, my name is Raphaella.”

The other three looked at each other awkwardly until the bearded one finally spoke up.

“Gunpowder Tim. Master at arms.” It was a terse introduction, but none of them could possibly be as rude to her as Jonny had been so she would take it. She smiled as politely as possible.

“A pleasure.”

“Ashes O’Reilly. I’m the quartermaster.” 

“Oh, wonderful! So you’re who I would talk to about getting my own room?”

“You’re staying?” Ashes looked incredulous, their dark eyebrows rising so high they were hidden in their bright red hair.

“I intend to, yes. I think I could probably get more accomplished here for the time being. You might have learned this about me but I have a deep interest in the sciences and right now my current fascination is with you lot.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as the final person, who by way of deduction, Raphaella could only assume was Nastya, stood up abruptly. In the same instant, Marius’s elbow jabbed sharply into Raphaella’s ribs. One of those signals would have been adequate to let her know that she’d made a misstep, so she chose to glare at Marius who was giving her a look that very clearly said “what the fuck?”

“I am going to eat in my room.” Nastya muttered in a thick Cyberian accent. She picked up her plate and hurried out of the room.

Everyone was once again staring at her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset any of you. I understand very well your past experiences and I don’t intend to do anything to any of you unless you ask me to. I promise you that. I might not be the most ethical of scientists but I know better than to make this living situation any more unpleasant than it already is.”

Marius’s elbow drove into her side again and she winced.

“What was that one for?!”

“Your only motivation being ‘not making the living situation more unpleasant’ is  _ not _ particularly reassuring, la Cognizi.”

“At least she’s being  _ honest _ , Marius.” Ashes directed a pointed look his way and he flinched like the comment had physically hit him.

“Oh fuck off. As if you assholes are any better.”

“Better at lying? Yes we are.”

“I’m an excellent liar. I’ll give you an example: I really love these fun-filled family dinners we have! They’re the highlight of my day, every day!” Marius grinned brightly and it might have even actually been convincing if he hadn’t already told them this was an example of him lying. “See? Got through that without even laughing despite how much of a fucking joke it was!” He stood up and picked up his plate like Nastya had earlier. “I’m also going to eat in my room, if any of you need me. Good luck, la Cognizi.”

Tim clicked his tongue to break the awkward silence following Marius’s footsteps down the hall. “Someone’s a little touchy tonight.”

“We have been treating him rather poorly lately,” Brian pointed out quietly, “we don’t actually have any reason to think he has anything to do with…” He trailed off and everyone’s gaze once again turned back to Raphaella.

Raphaella rolled her eyes. “Look, I get that you’re all mistrustful bastards, but I do not claim him. If I was going to attack you all, I would have at least picked an  _ intelligent _ accomplice. Besides, I’m not here to harm you, I’m here to  _ learn _ . I know you won’t believe me on that, but I  _ will _ prove it to you. Even if it takes a million years. I have plenty of time to do that now.” There was a beat of silence where it seemed that no one really knew how to respond so she forged ahead instead. “Anyways, as I mentioned before, I do intend to stay so… about getting my own room?”

Ashes met her stare evenly and tilted their head to the side as if pondering.

“Yeah, I should be able to get you a room, but I’ll have to clear it out first. That’ll take me a day at least because I’m sure as hell not starting tonight. You survived last night without a room, so I trust that won’t be much of an issue?”

Raphaella sighed. “I suppose not. Just means I probably have to placate Marius.”

“Good luck with that, he’s a little bit of a drama queen.” Ivy grimaced. “Might want to bring him some dessert or something to butter him up.”

“Do you have anything he might like?”

“We probably have some chocolate in the cupboards… Hard to go wrong with chocolate.” Ashes shrugged.

Raphaella decided that that would have to do and she  _ did _ manage to find some chocolate in the cupboards so she was going to do that.

She made her way back to Marius’s room, where she had begun her day, and knocked on the door.

“God, haven’t you people insulted me enough for one night?” Marius somehow sounded even grumpier than he had when he had left the mess hall.

“Yeeees?” Raphaella ventured. “I’m not here to insult you further, at least?”

The door slid open and Marius was on the other side, looking at her deadpan. “Are you sure I’m not too  _ unintelligent _ to have a conversation?”

Raphaella grimaced a little. “You heard that? I thought you’d left.”

“Aurora’s awfully echoey when everyone is in one place.”

Raphaella sighed. This would make everything that much more complicated.

“I’m sorry your feelings were hurt.” She held out the chocolate towards him, hoping to distract his deadpan stare. “Care for a bribe?”

Marius looked down at the chocolate and then back up to her, but he did in fact take it, so she was hoping that counted as a win.

“That was a shit apology and was in fact, actually, not an apology at all. What do you want?”

“I was hoping you might offer me the medbay to sleep tonight? Ashes says a room for me won’t be ready until tomorrow.”

Marius looked like he was struggling to keep up his deadpan, and eventually he broke down with a sigh. “God, fine, you can stay in here again.”

“What? No, look, it’s your room, I asked for the medbay.”

“No, but it’s so  _ uncomfortable _ there, I know, I slept there last night, I just-”

“You’re too nice for your own good, Marius. Sleep in your own bed.”

“But-”

“Ugh!” Raphaella grabbed him by the cravat and pulled him into the room to shove him down onto the bed. “Sleep in your own bed!” She turned to leave, but he caught her by the sleeve.

“Look, just. If you’re not going to allow me to take the medbay why don’t we just… share? We’re a couple of grown adults, aren’t we?”

She looked at him quizzically. “You want to sleep with me?”

“Not like  _ that _ !” Marius’s ears were starting to flush red. “I mean, like just. Sharing the bed, fully clothed, keeping to our sides of the bed. Don’t be weird about our adult platonic bedsharing.”

Raphaella laughed. “Okay, fine. As long as you can keep your hands to yourself,  _ doctor _ .”

“I can manage that, but if  _ you _ get grabby, I’ll surely be powerless to stop you.” He grinned back and  _ oh _ , he was  _ flirting _ with her.

She laughed again and shook her head. “Thank you for being willing to accomodate me tonight, Marius.”

He shrugged flippantly. “What can I say? I’m a pushover. Speaking of accommodating you, do you want, like, a spare set of pajamas or something? I just realized you probably didn’t pack an overnight bag for making yourself immortal.”

Raphaella grimaced. She  _ had _ been wearing these clothes for a while now. It  _ would _ be nice to get into some cleaner ones…

“If you don’t mind me ruining a shirt for my wings, that would be nice…” 

“Let me see what I have.” Marius stood up from the bed and wandered over to his closet in search of some clothes she could borrow and/or mutilate. 

He held out an absolutely horrendous paisley shirt towards her. 

“What the fuck is that?” She took it in her hands like it might be poisonous. It looked like it could be for how brightly colored it was.

“It’s a shirt I don’t wear anymore. Want me to help you cut it for the wings?”

She sighed. She deserved this, she supposed, for being so mean to him earlier, even if she hadn’t known he could hear. “Yes, please.”

He slipped behind her and held the shirt up between her shoulder blades to get a good measure of the distance between her wings. Then he grabbed a pair of scissors from his messy desk and cut two slits in it that would hopefully accommodate her new appendages nicely. The incisions were neater than the ones punched through her current shirt. She shimmied out of her top, succeeding in tearing it further. Great. She’d have to wear Marius’s ugly shirt until she managed to get something better. 

She looked back at him to hold out her hand for the paisley monstrosity and realized that Marius was studying the ground very intently, his face bright red. She rolled her eyes.

“They’re a basic part of human anatomy,  _ doctor _ . I don’t care if you look.” Marius’s eyes shifted from the floor to her face in an impressive feat of self-denial. “My tits are down here.” She gestured towards her chest. His eyes drifted downward for a second but quickly returned to her face.

“So they are! They’re, um. They’re nice!”

Raphaella laughed and finally took pity on him, plucking the shirt from his hands and gently maneuvering her wings through the new slits and her arms through the sleeves. She buttoned just enough of it to cover herself and then took off her shorts and tights.

“Oh, um, do you want a pair of pants? I can get you-” Marius started bumbling back towards the closet before she cut him off.

“No, that’s fine. More comfortable like this, thank you.” She lay back on the bed.

“Okay. Um. Goodnight.” Marius’s eyes slid back to the floor awkwardly before he turned back to the closet to find some pajamas for himself. He turned his back towards her as he shed his jacket and started to unbutton his waistcoat.

“Aw, I showed you mine, are you really going to deny me seeing yours?”

Marius looked back towards her, his cheeks starting to flush again. But he did turn all the way around as he finished with the waistcoat and started with the shirt. His chest was broad, his stomach just a little on the softer side, and Raphaella couldn’t help her eyes following the trail of hair from his navel to where it dipped into his pants.

Marius made a gesture towards his chest, mirroring her own from earlier.

“My tits are up here.”

Raphaella laughed. He was good at making her laugh. Brian had been right, Marius  _ was _ funny.

He slipped his trousers off and then hesitated for a second between the pajamas he’d set out for himself and the bed.

“Will you be able to keep your hands off me if I sleep like this?” He joked, “I tend to overheat when I sleep.”

Raphaella raised an eyebrow at him and gestured to what she was wearing, which admittedly, wasn’t much. “Like you said, we’re both adults. I’m sure I’ll be able to handle your bare chest for a few hours.”

“ _ Well _ , only if you want to.” He grinned and settled himself onto the side of the bed that Raphaella hadn’t claimed. “Aurora, would you mind turning out the light?”

The starship obliged, sending them both into darkness. Raphaella wrapped her wings around herself and let the soft sounds of Marius’s breathing (and shortly, his quiet snoring) lull her to sleep.


End file.
